Overdue Update

Hey, remember me? And how I was going to update this thing more than once a month? Apparently that just doesn't happen. But in my defense it hasn't been a terribly exciting month, so you haven't missed much. But now, for the Tid Bits Of Life!

1- I had a job interview for an internship with a Broadway casting company (Binder Casting) that I should hear about today or tomorrow. I want this job sooooooooooooooooooooo badly. Not only are they a very well known company, but I really liked the people and the vibe and the fact that they all wear fun, casual clothes, and that there's an office dog! He certainly seemed to like me, maybe he'll put in a good word?

2- For said interview, I got a new haircut! Nothing too fancy, but because it was my first time in this salon (ADORABLE place in the east village called The Little Hair Shoppe, I'll be going back all the time) I got a discount on hair coloring so I thought, why not? Now I have subtle light brown/coppery highlights. Tres chic. 

3- Sam and I had a fabulous Valentine's day (which we actually celebrated on the day before, on Dad's birthday. Silly me, working every saturday). We ate at this gorgeous restaurant called Marseille, which I had been walking past for months and months on my way to work. It was still something called Restaurant Week, which is a New York event where all the best restaurants have a special 3-course menu for just $35! So I got sweet potato and fennel gnocchi, steak frites, and this delicious chocolate dessert I forget the name of. And then, as if that wasn't enough, we had tickets to see WILLIAM H. MACY! in Speed The Plow, by David Mamet. It was so glorious. And our seats were in the Orchestra (the best seats in the house, down on the main floor in the middle, close-but-not-too-close to the stage). I had never seen Mamet done by professionals, and wow, what a difference! And and I had never read Speed The Plow before, what an extraordinary play all around. It was glorious. So very glorious. Oh, and we took a taxi home, what luxury!

4- Our friend Kyle Bain has moved here! This brings the total of good friends in the city to four (six counting sam and I). For those of you who came to my graduation and saw As You Like It, Kyle was the dapper fellow in the suit who followed the two leading ladies around. AND, even more exciting, our friend Anna Dart (in As You Like It, she was melancholy and played a saw onstage) will be arriving before too long. I love these guys so much, it's like we're setting up a whole Whitman ex-pat community here!

5- While exploring with friend Kyle, I discovered the secret thrift store mecca: W. 17th street. Four or five glorious thrift shops all right next to the other on one block, and can I just say that NY knows how to do thrift?? They're all set up like little boutique stores, instead of giant caverns that smell like moth balls and cleaning fluids. And one of the places was a combo thrift furniture and thrift costume jewelry place! I resisted many temptations and all I bought was a five dollar hat, and even then only because it was cute AND had ear flaps, something I've been greatly desiring in this weather. Oh, and there's an amazing flea market on W. 77th street on weekends, but it's hard for me to enjoy that as much as I'd like with the whole working on weekends thing. sigh. 

6- Joel and Steven are coming to visit next week!!!!!!!!!! And that's actually about all I know. Steven is arranging everything, and apparently likes to keep details to himself. But I don't mind, little brother visits are worth it! Of course, that does mean I'll have to clean... oh dear.

7- If you haven't yet, I demand that each and every one of you go see Coraline. I loved it. It's like candy for the eyes, but sophisticated candy that boggles your brain. It's a stop-motion film, which means that everything you see on the screen is a tiny puppet being manipulated one frame at a time. It's so complicated they could only shoot two minutes of movie a week. And looking at it, you'd think it was all done with computers, but practically none of it was! Plus the story is by one of my favorite authors, Neil Gaiman. Plus it's set in Ashland, OR, and if you've ever been there it's really funny to see the little nods they put in about how Ashland is a town of crazy hippies. Love love love it. (oh, a warning for Kate Drake: A little scary, but I think you can handle it!)

8- Speaking of scary, I haven't written about my Terrible Ordeal on this blog yet! So back in January, I'm just sitting in the bathroom, doing my thing, when all of a sudden the window (which is RIGHT BEHIND MY HEAD) starts opening, and a man starts to climb in! I, of course, freak out. The man shouts something very crude that I won't repeat here, and starts climbing down the fire escape from whence he came. You have to understand... the window was Right. Behind. My Head. And it was a locked bathroom in the middle of the day, what is SUPPOSED to be a safe place. I have never been so terrified. Eventually I calm down a little, and figure since it's not really an emergency (I'm not hurt, he didn't get in, nothing was taken, etc.) I won't call 911, so I call 311, the information line, just to find out what I should do. The girl there thinks I'm an idiot and transfers me to 911, who instead of listening just sends the cops over. The cops, when they arrive an hour later, proceed to make fun of me for seeing pretend people on my fire escape. Between this and the whole ambulance for an ear infection thing, I am not greatly amused by New York's emergency response systems. 

9- I had a very funny conversation with the father of the girl I nanny every weekend. He, in case you don't remember, is very French. He's also an artiste (intentional European spelling alert!) and takes many things coughcough HIMSELF coughcough very seriously. So we were chatting yesterday, and he started giving me a lecture on the importance of pretending to care about the Oscars. It went something like this:

Me: Well I care who wins the awards, but I don't really watch the ceremony...

Him: What?! Zis is no good! 

Me: But you know, it goes for hours and it's kind of boring and...

Him: NON! To succeed in zis bizzness, you must LOVE ze Ozcars! How can you bee in show bizzness and not watch ze Ozcars?! 

Me: But...

Him: I am telling you zis! You must at least pretend, non? In zis town, you LOVE ze Ozcars! What do you do?

Me: Um... watch the Oscars?

Him: And........?

Me: Um?

Him: AND............?

Me: Um... I care... very much? About? Them?

Him: Bon, tres bien! And don't you forget eet!

Well, it looks like I had more adventures this month than I thought I had! Now I'm off to watch Law and Order on Netflix and enjoy my Monday off! 

Love to all!